Глава 14

People's outrage. - Condemnation to forty years of wandering through the deserts. - Death of ten spies. – Unauthorized invasion of the Negeb. - Failure. Numbers 14:5. And Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the congregation of the children of Israel. Prostrate yourself before the tabernacle, in the presence of the entire congregation. Numbers 14:19. Forgive the sin of this people according to Your great mercy, just as You have forgiven this people from Egypt until now. “Not out of fear of losing your superiors,” notes St. Ephraim the Syrian, - but out of love Moses intercedes for the people: for he was promised that if the Jews were exterminated, he would become the leader of an even greater people” (Exod. 32:10; Num. 14:12; Ephraim the Syrian, Commentary on the Book of Numbers, ch. XIV). Numbers 14:22. all who have seen My glory and My signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted Me ten times now, and have not listened to My voice, “They have tempted Me ten times already.” The word “ten” can be understood both in the sense of generalizing multiple phenomena, and as an indication of the following ten disturbances of the people: 1) at the Red Sea; 2) in Marah; 3) in the Sin desert; 4) in case of non-compliance with the law about not leaving manna until the morning; 5) in case of non-compliance with the law on not collecting manna on Saturday; 6) in Refidim; 7) at Sinai; 8) in Tavera; 9) in Kibrot-Ghattaav; 10) in Kadesh-barnea. Numbers 14:23. They will not see the land that I promised to their fathers with an oath; [only to their children who are here with Me, who do not know what is good and what is evil, to all the young ones who do not understand anything, I will give the land to them, and] all those who provoked Me will not see it; The coarsely sensitive, stiff-necked older generation of Jews, raised under Egyptian influence, found themselves unable to realize the idea of ​​Jehovah's kingdom in the land of promise, and therefore deprived of it. A young generation of Jews will enter Canaan, having grown up in the desert, under the continuous influence of tangible manifestations of the greatness, power, and goodness of God (Deut. 8: 2-5). Numbers 14:24. But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit and obeyed Me perfectly, I will bring into the land where he went, and his seed will inherit it; Below, in Numbers 14:30, chapter 38, Joshua is mentioned along with Caleb. Numbers 14:37. These, who spread evil rumors about the land, died, being defeated before the Lord; “They died, being struck down” by sudden death at the threshold of the tabernacle. “Death struck the spies before others,” notes St. Ephraim the Syrian - because they blocked the people’s door to owning the land so desired by them. Having blocked the door of the promised land, the spies opened the doors of Sheol for 600,000 people who went down there after them” (Interpretation of the book of Numbers, chapter XIV). Numbers 14:45. And the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt on that mountain went down and defeated them, and drove them as far as Hormah, [and returned to the camp.] Hormah is the capital city of one of the Canaanite princes in the Negeb, north of Kadesh. Hormah was formerly called Zephaer (Judges 1.17). The later name (Khormah) was given to the place when the Jews condemned the city of Canaan (Numbers 21.3; Judges 1.17). You might be interested in: